Discovering the joy and ease of bulb gardening: a Napa Valley tale
By Cindy Watter
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — I always love the bulb catalogs that drop through my mail slot at the end of every summer. I once overbought and then procrastinated on planting them. This was when I lived in Humboldt County. One February Presidents Day I remembered that I had a burlap bag on my side porch with 12 dozen naturalizing daffodil bulbs that I should have planted in October. After a day of frenzied digging and applying bone meal to each bulb’s nesting place, I was done. Then I worried they wouldn’t come up.
They appeared in March, just as if I had planted them at the right time. This was because the Northern California climate is ideal for bulbs. In fact, you can plant most bulbs any time between October and February. My bulbs survived the side porch for four months because it wasn’t too hot, and they were daffodils. Tulips and hyacinths require pre-chilling in your refrigerator before planting.
Because these were bulbs for naturalizing — meaning that they would spread — I tossed them around in the front yard and planted them where they fell. I dug holes twice the size of the bulbs, sprinkled in some bone meal, placed the bulbs and covered them up. I did this 144 times. The yard had some dappled sun and shade, which was perfect. Because the neighbor’s ducks regularly invaded my yard, I never had any problems with snails. I had a beautiful show of daffodils.
That was 45 years ago. I drove past my old house a few years back and was happy to see that the daffodils had indeed survived and spread in drifts of yellow and white all over the yard.
“Bulb” is a term we use to refer to embryonic plants, such as daffodils, narcissuses and lilies. The bulb is encased in a thin, papery skin and contains everything it needs for growth. Tubers, tuberous roots, rhizomes and corms are often called bulbs, but they are bulblike plants.
Bulbs should be planted at a depth that is twice their height; tubers, tuberous roots, rhizomes and corms are planted just below the surface. Cyclamen and anemone are tubers, potatolike structures that are underground stems that will grow above-ground stems. Dahlias are tuberous roots that will put forth stems. Bearded iris is the most common rhizome. It is planted horizontally and will sprout with upright stems. Crocuses and gladioli grow from a corm, a stem that forms a bud on top that produces flowers. New corms develop on top of the old one, which shrivels away.
Speaking of shriveling, when daffodils fade you can cut off the flower, but let the green leaves wither away. I used to see patches of daffodils with the fading leaves wound like a skein of yarn, with another leaf securing them. This looks adorable but is unnecessary.
Bulbs are planted with bone meal because it contains phosphorus that nourishes the soil. The problem with bone meal is that it attracts carnivores — in my case a small dog that was so enchanted with the bone meal in my tiger lily bed that she rolled in it and tried to eat it. I had to put a screen over the bulbs until the aroma faded.
You can use an organic fertilizer and compost to help your soil instead. Bone meal comes from slaughterhouses, and some people don’t like to use it for that reason. If your soil has a pH above 7, use an acidic fertilizer — the type formulated for azaleas — to raise your soil’s acidity and lower the pH. These days I use lots of compost, aged chicken manure and organic fertilizer.
Bulbs generally don’t have predators. The exception is the tulip, a favorite of gophers. I don’t have any gophers in my downtown yard — just rats, raccoons and opossums — but they are a plague in Napa County. UC Master Gardeners can advise you on how to deal with them.
I have seen bulb plantings that are layered, with daffodils first, then tulips, lilies and finally irises, which are barely covered by soil. They bloom in succession, and the planting bed is generally full of flowers in spring and summer.
One late-blooming bulb is the Naked Lady (Amaryllis belladonna), a native. It is pale pink and fragrant, and I see it all over coastal Northern California as well as Napa County. It is dormant in winter and puts forth green leaves in spring. The leaves shrivel in the summer, but never fear. In late summer or early fall the pink blooms will appear on reddish stems. These flowers are particularly attractive to native bees.
Planting bulbs is so easy (unless you need to plant 12 dozen in a hurry, as I did). The displays they put forth lift one’s spirits. I particularly enjoy my tiger lilies (Lilium lancifolium), which remind me of the talking flowers in Lewis Carroll’s Looking-Glass Land.
Library Talk: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County and the Napa Library for “Discover the Las Flores Learning Garden” on Thursday, Jan. 4, from 7 to 8 p.m. via Zoom. Did you know that Napa has an amazing learning garden where you and your family can see examples of dry gardens, native plants and pollinator plants? Learn how Master Gardeners transformed part of Las Flores Community Center Park into an array of botanical teaching gardens. Register here to receive the Zoom link.
Workshop: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for “Winter Rose Garden Care & Pruning,” on Saturday, Jan. 6, from 10 a.m. to noon via Zoom. Prepare your roses for the upcoming growing season with this review of pruning techniques and best pruning tools. Learn how to help your roses cope with climate change and how to choose the right rose for the right place. Attendees will be invited to join a hands-on pruning workshop at Napa’s Fuller Park Rose Garden on Thursday, Jan. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon to practice what they learned. Register to receive the Zoom link.
Help Desk: The Master Gardener Help Desk is available to answer your garden questions on Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the University of California Cooperative Extension Office, 1710 Soscol Ave., Suite 4, Napa. Or send your questions to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. Include your name, address, phone number and a brief description. For best results attach a photograph.
Cindy Watter is a UC Master Gardener of Napa County.